


Haunted

by Aisshe



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-05-30
Updated: 2010-05-30
Packaged: 2017-10-09 19:42:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/90850
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aisshe/pseuds/Aisshe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rose thinks about the Doctor's reactions during "School Reunion."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Haunted

It was finally quiet, too quiet in some ways, allowing Rose far too much time to reflect on

her thoughts, finally allowing herself to think back on the most recent events.

 

_I could save everyone…_

 

_I could stop the war…_

 

No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t get the Doctor’s words out of her head. And what was worse than the words was the memory of the look on his face. In her time traveling with him, she couldn’t ever remember seeing him look quite so haunted. It penetrated every fiber of his being…she could see it in his face, in the bleakness in his dark eyes, and hear the despair in his voice.

 

It had broken her heart to watch him at that moment – he was literally being offered the universe, the chance to set all that had gone wrong to right – but she couldn’t say anything.

 

Rose had heard Sarah Jane talking, but it had just been words going past her. She had been too focused on the Doctor. Ever since the revelation of the Skasas Paradigm, she had watched his features settle into the grim determination he wore whenever he went up against a foe, the Oncoming Storm, barely contained.

 

But the Krillitane’s words were breaking that determination. 

 

_The paradigm gives us power, but you could give us wisdom._

 

She could see it in his stance, the set of his jaw. 

 

_Their lives are so fleeting. So many goodbyes. How lonely you must be, Doctor._

 

His jaw was softening, his eyes becoming distant as he allowed himself to think of the possibilities.

 

_I could save everyone…_

 

In a way, Rose couldn’t – wouldn’t – believe what she was hearing. Surely the Doctor wouldn’t allow himself to be convinced, would he? All of the selfless acts Rose had seen the Doctor do, and now, she couldn’t believe that a few well-placed words from a master manipulator would shatter all of that.

 

She was watching him, quietly willing him with her eyes, not quite able to hold back the slight look of disbelief she knew must have been written across her face. _Please, Doctor, don’t listen to him…_

 

Sarah Jane was talking, and the Doctor was looking in their direction. Not at Sarah Jane, but at Rose. Only for a moment, but their eyes connected. She saw a myriad of emotions flicker through his dark eyes before he took a deep breath and darted around the Krillitane, throwing a chair at the screen and shattering it to pieces, then hustling them out of the room.

 

She hadn’t heard what Sarah Jane had said, but something she had said had broken through to him, distracted him out of his thoughts enough to gather his wits again and reject what was the Krillitane was offering – taunting him with, even.

 

The rest all seemed a bit of a blur, really, and before Rose knew it, Mickey was joining them on the TARDIS, and the Doctor was bouncing around the console room, prattling on about Mickey joining them – “Rule number one, don’t wander off,” – and flipping switches and smacking parts with the ever-present mallet. She let the activity wash over her as she quietly perched on the captain’s seat, but after a time, she quietly slipped out and made her way to her bedroom.

 

She had been seeking some quiet, or so she thought, but now, being alone with only her thoughts and the quiet humming of the TARDIS in the background, all she could think about was the haunted look on the Doctor’s face, about how incredibly vulnerable he had looked. It was a sight that would haunt her mind for a while.

 


End file.
